Employers concerned about the shortage of workers in this market would do well to heed the lessons of the fable of the Chinese farmer who wondered aloud, “Good? Bad? Who’s to say?”
At first, the farmer’s prized horse runs away, and everyone assumes he’s depressed. But the farmer responds, “Good? Bad? Who’s to say?” A few days later the horse returns with three wild horses he met while on the loose. The neighbors assume the farmer will be overjoyed, but he repeats his refrain. This goes on. The farmer’s son breaks his leg while trying to break one of the wild horses. But then the Chinese Army marches through town conscripting young men, but not the farmer’s son because his leg is broken.
You get the idea. Every issue is an opportunity.
This is how we as employers need to view the shortage of workers in 2021. This is an opportunity to build our company’s internal strengths so that when the market turns (and it surely will) we are the place that people want to work. If we use this time to build cohesive teams working toward the company goals, we’ll be the employer of choice.
I am going to assume that most companies know how to measure the effectiveness of their strategy and their marketing outreach, and that their finance and technology systems are working well. But the greatest sign of a company’s health is in those so-called “soft” measures. The morale and measures of turnover and productivity. Office politics. Making sure everyone understands the company goals.
(I hurry to add that Parker Brown is not perfect in these measurements, but the soft side is something we pay attention to.)
I like to imagine being a fly on the wall when someone asks, “What’s it like to work there?” We are trying to build a culture where our team member would answer:
• I know what’s expected of me.
• I know what the company is trying to achieve.
• I have the freedom to do my job and authority to act in ways that get us toward our goals.
• There is good communication, and no one second guesses me or looks over my shoulder. They trust me.
How you do that is the trick.
We try to repeat the message of our company goals and repeat them and repeat them. Around the time we are getting sick of repeating ourselves is the time when it is starting to sink in.
When we do hire or fire, we try to make it clear what behaviors we are rewarding. When they are on board, we try to recognize them with words and in the paycheck. We try to build trust with fishing trips and outings for bowling. These are an investment that we hope pays off the next time there’s a conflict. It’s much easier to work together with a person whose hook you’ve baited. We are realistic. We expect conflict on the job. It’s natural. But we also create the expectation that people should solve problems, not bring it to the boss.
We’ve found after more than 25 years in business that very few people quit for another job that pays more money. They leave or become disengaged when they feel anonymous in the organization or find their jobs irrelevant. In each of our companies, every job is important. It plays a role in helping us reach our goals. We strive to make each employee feel like they are part of the team. Proof of that is the number of employees we have who have been with us more than 20 years. Whenever possible, we promote from within. Over the last 10 years, our staff has propelled us to new heights.
So as we congratulate those who made the list of Best Places to Work, let’s consider what it takes to continue being the great place where people want to work tomorrow and in the coming year.
Chris Collier started at Parker Brown as an intern and is now COO of the company.
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